Chapter 16: Added Money Events

16.01  For the purpose of this rule, added money events include stakes, futurities, early closing events and late closing events as defined in Chapter 2.

16.02  All sponsors and presenters of added money events must comply with the rules and must submit to the Registrar the conditions and other information pertaining to such events.

16.03  Any conditions contrary to the provisions of any of these rules are prohibited.

16.04  Conditions for added money events must specify:

1. Which horses are eligible to be nominated;
2. The amount to be added to the purse by the sponsor or presenter, should the amount be known at the time;
3. The dates and amounts of nomination, sustaining and starting payments; and may be adjusted by the Association with approval of the Registrar;
4. The event will be raced in divisions or conducted in elimination heats, depending on scheduling and time constraints;
5. The distribution of the purse, in percent, to the money winners in each heat or dash, and the distribution should the number of starters be less than the number of premiums advertised; and
6. Whether also eligible horses may be carded prior to the running heats or legs of added money events.

16.05  Sponsors or presenters of stakes, futurities or early closing events shall provide a list of nominations to each nominator or owner and to the Associations concerned within 60 days after the date on which nominations close, other than for nominations payable prior to January 1st of a horse’s two-year-old year.

16.06  In the case of nominations for futurities payable during the foaling year, such lists must be forwarded out prior to October 15th of that year and, in the case of nominations payable in the yearling year, such lists must be forwarded out not later than September 1 of that year.

16.07  Sponsors or presenters of stakes, futurities or early closing events shall also provide a list of horses remaining eligible to each owner of an eligible within 45 days after the date on which sustaining payments are payable. All lists shall include a resume of the current financial status of the event.

16.08  The Registrar may require the sponsor or presenter to file with the Commission a surety bond in the amount of the fund to ensure faithful performance of the conditions, including a guarantee that the event will be raced as advertised and all funds will be segregated and all premiums paid. Registrar’s consent must be obtained to transfer or change the date of the event, or to alter the conditions. In any instance where a sponsor or presenter furnishes the Commission with substantial evidence of financial responsibility satisfactory to the Registrar, such evidence may be accepted in lieu of a surety bond.

16.09  Dates for nominations payments:

1. Stakes: The date for closing of nominations on yearlings shall be May 15th. The date for closing of nominations to all other stakes shall fall on the fifteenth day of a month;
2. Futurity: The date for closing of nominations shall be July 15th of the year of foaling;
3. Early Closing Events: The date for closing of nominations shall fall on the first or fifteenth day of a month. Nominations on two-year-olds shall not be taken prior to February 15th;
4. Late Closing Events: The date for closing of nominations shall be at the discretion of the sponsor or presenter.

16.10  Dates for sustaining payments:

1. Stakes and Futurities: Sustaining payments shall fall on the fifteenth day of a month. No stake or futurity sustaining fee shall become due prior to February 15th of the year in which the horses nominated become two years of age;
2. Early and Late Closing Events: Sustaining payments shall fall on the first or fifteenth day of a month.

16.11  The starting fee and all postponed or waived sustaining fees shall become due when a horse is properly declared to start and shall be payable in accordance with the conditions of the added money event. Once a horse has been properly declared to start, the starting fee and all sustaining fees shall be forfeited, whether or not the horse starts. Should payment not be made 30 minutes before the post time of the event, the horse shall be scratched and the payment shall become a liability of the owner who shall, together with the horse or horses, be suspended until payment is made in full, providing the Association notifies the Registrar within 30 days after the starting date.

16.12  Failure to make any payment required by the revised conditions constitutes an automatic withdrawal from the event.

16.13  Conditions that will eliminate horses nominated to an event, or add horses that have not been nominated to an event by reason of performance of such horses at an earlier meeting, are invalid. Early and late closing events shall have not more than two also eligible conditions.

16.14  The date and place where all postponed Added Money Events will be raced will be announced when determined by the Association and approved by the Registrar. The date and place where stakes and futurities will be raced must be announced as soon as determined. Such announcement will be made when a date has been determined for a rescheduled event.

16.15  Deductions may not be made from nomination, sustaining and starting payments or from the advertised purse for clerical or any other expenses.

16.16  All nominations to added money events must be made in accordance with the conditions.

16.17  Every nomination shall constitute an agreement by the person making the nomination and the horse shall be subject to these rules. and any revised or amended rules. All disputes and questions arising out of such nomination shall be submitted to the Registrar, whose decision shall be final.

16.18  Nominations and sustaining payments must be received by the sponsor or presenter not later than the hour of closing, except those made by mail must bear a postmark placed thereon not later than the hour of closing. Payments made by electronic transaction to a third-party providing a staking service must be processed and the sponsor notified, not later than the hour of closing. In the event the hour of closing falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, the hour of closing shall be extended to the same hour of the next business day. The hour of closing shall be midnight of the due date.

16.19  If conditions require a minimum number of nominations and the event does not fill, the Registrar and each nominator shall be notified within 20 days of the closing of nominations and a refund of nomination fees shall accompany such notice to nominators.

16.20  If conditions for early or late closing events allow transfer for change of gait, such transfer shall be to the lowest class the horse is eligible to at the adopted gait, eligibility to be determined at the time of closing nominations. The race to which the transfer may be made must be the one nearest the date of the event originally nominated to. Two-year-olds, three-year-olds, or four-year-olds, nominated in classes for their age, may only transfer to classes for the same age group at the adopted gait to the race nearest the date of the event they were originally nominated to, and entry fees to be adjusted.

16.21  A nominator is required to guarantee the identity and eligibility of nominations, and if this information is given incorrectly he/she may be subject to a monetary penalty, suspended, or expelled and the horse declared ineligible. If any purse money was obtained by an ineligible horse, the monies shall be forfeited and redistributed among those justly entitled to the same.

16.22  Minimum declarations required to race:

1. Early or late closing events must be contested if five or more betting interests are declared to start. If fewer horses are declared to start than required, the race may be declared off, in which case the total of nominations, sustaining and starting payments received shall be divided equally to the horses declared to start. Such distribution shall not be credited as purse winnings;
2. Stakes or futurities must be contested if one or more horses are declared to start. In the event only one horse, or only horses in the same interest start, it constitutes a walk-over. In the event no declarations are made, the total of nomination and sustaining payments shall be divided equally to the horses remaining eligible after payment of the last sustaining payment, but such distribution shall not be credited as purse winnings.

16.23  Deleted.

16.24  The maximum size of fields permitted in any added money event shall be:

1. For races which go in 1 division no more than 2 trailers;
2. For races which go in more than 1 division a maximum of 1 trailer.

An Association may elect to go with less than the number of trailers specified in (a) above. Exceptions on field sizes can be granted with the permission of the Registrar.

16.25  In the event more horses are declared to start than allowed in one field, the race will be conducted in divisions or eliminations, as specified in the conditions.

16.26    

1. In added money events conducted in divisions, the Association shall contribute at least 75% of the Association’s advertised added money to the purse in each division. To this amount shall be added the contributions by sponsors other than the Association and the total of nomination and sustaining fees, and the revised total purse shall be divided equally between or among the divisions. Each starting fee shall be added to the division in which the horse starts. The Ontario Sires Stakes Program and the Trillium Series are excluded from the rule;
2. Notwithstanding the provisions of rule 16.26 (a), where an Association is adding $50,000 or more to the added money event, and the event is conducted in divisions, the Association may divide the purse equally between or among the divisions, provided however, that no division shall be contested for less than the Association’s added money.

16.27  In added money events conducted in eliminations, starters shall be divided by lot. Sixty (60) percent of the total purse will be divided equally among the elimination heats. The final heat will be contested for forty (40) percent of the total purse. Unless the conditions provide otherwise, all elimination heats and the final heat must be raced on the same day. If the conditions provide otherwise, elimination heats must be contested not more than 6 days, excluding Sundays, prior to the date of the final heat. The winner of the final heat shall be the winner of the race. If the estimated value of the purse for the event is $50,000 or more, the division of the purse between elimination heats and the final may be other than the formula above; however, the purse for an elimination heat shall not be less than $10,000 and the distribution must be contained in the printed conditions of the event.

16.28  The number of horses allowed to qualify for the final heat of an event conducted in elimination heats shall not exceed the maximum number permitted to start in accordance with the Rules.

16.29  The Judges’ decisions in arriving at the official order of finish of elimination heats on the same program shall be final and irrevocable and not subject to appeal or protest.

16.30  Unless the conditions for the added money event provide otherwise the Judges shall draw by lot the post positions for the final heat in elimination events, i.e. they shall draw positions to determine which of the two elimination heat winners shall have the pole, and which the second position; which of the two horses that were second shall start in the third position, and which in the fourth, etc. The trailing position shall be determined as the 4th best post position.

16.31  Deleted.